[music playing]

[President Richard M. Nixon] 
Mr. Chief Justice, ladies and 
gentlemen, we are gathered 
here today for a ceremony in 
which we will have sworn in 
the first head of 
a new agency. 
I think we have here the best 
man for this new job that we   
could find.
[William D. Ruckelshaus] 
I, William D. Ruckelshaus, 
do solemnly swear… 
Well, I used to say facetiously 
that my greatest accomplishment 
was twice having avoided 
indictment before I left EPA.
You mentioned the whole 
litany of things that 
led to the creation of 
EPA in the first place. 
I mean, we really had gross 
pollution problems in 
those days.

[Lucy] 
I quit! 
[Lucy coughs] 
I can't see
a thing.  
There's too much pollution 
out there! 
[Linus] 
I quit, too, 
Charlie Brown. 
It's no fun out there 
in all that litter. 
[music playing]
[William D. Ruckelshaus] 
There was a necessity for 
the government at the time 
to show that it was serious 
about dealing with pollution 
problems, that the federal 
government was willing to 
step in where obviously the 
almost total delegation of 
the states and local governments 
prior to 1970 hadn't gotten the 
job done. 
Where we have found real 
sustained success is 
where there are strong 
citizen organizations.
Establishing that framework, 
convincing, I think, 
any fair-minded person that the 
government was serious about it, 
was a necessary thing to do 
in the early days of the agency, 
and I think we 
accomplished that. 
The second time, essentially, 
it was restoring morale, 
and I think that happened as 
much because of the inherent 
buoyancy of the people 
at EPA as my return, 
but that also was, I think, 
something I feel proud of.
[music playing]
[Female Speaker] 
What do you consider your single 
most important accomplishment 
during your term 
and why? 
[Russell E. Train ] 
During my time, I came 
in in mid-1973. 
It was the oil embargo, the Arab 
oil embargo, and energy was it.
During my entire time, 
it was the environmental 
energy conflict, if you will, 
in terms of policy.  
Now, within the administration, 
in the Congress, 
that was pretty crucial.  
And I think the major EPA 
accomplishment of those years 
was to keep our programs on 
track, and we never had to 
really accommodate in any 
undesirable way with the 
energy crunch.
[music playing]
[Douglas M. Costle] 
The first time I ever saw the 
President of the United States 
get angry was at a meeting where 
somebody started out the meeting 
by talking about the politics of 
an issue, and the President cut 
him off at the knees and said, 
"I want to talk about the merits 
of the issue."
It's been my experience 
in every dealing with 
the President of the United 
States on environmental issues, 
he wants the facts; 
he wants them straight. 
He wants sensible, considered 
judgments to be made, and he 
feels very strongly of the view 
that the free enterprise system 
does not automatically create 
clean air or clean water.
In the area of health and 
safety, you have to have 
regulations, and it's 
important that it be 
sensible and well managed.   
In other areas on the other 
hand, we probably need a lot 
less regulation. 
By and large, I think the 
legislative job in terms  
of putting basic authority 
on the books is done.
What we now need is the science, 
the information, and the follow- 
through, if you will, 
to get the job done. 
[music playing]
[Anne M. Burford] 
Our performance record will be, 
and will continue to be how 
quickly and most cost 
effectively are we 
cleaning up [unintelligible] 
sites. 
The important challenge we have 
is to end the fear that toxic 
waste will endanger the health 
of any man, woman or child in 
the United States. 
The environment and the 
environmental protection, 
the mission for which the 
agency was established, 
is the protection of the health, 
the welfare and the environment 
of the American people. 
That is our
priority.
It is a mission to which we 
are dedicated, to which the 
President is dedicated. 

[Lee M. Thomas] 
-- Mr. Ruckelshaus always told 
me when I was working for him 
that if I didn't get the 
hazardous waste program 
straightened out, which he had 
asked me to do, he was going 
to reorganize and make me 
the assistant administrator 
for sludge. 
[laughter]
Well, there were a number of 
things I guess I recall, 
but one that stands out 
to me was concluding the 
Montreal Protocol as a 
treaty that dealt with 
a extraordinarily significant 
environmental issue, but also 
a treaty that, I think, 
established a framework 
for dealing with international 
environmental concerns and one 
that, I think, will serve as 
a model for other problems 
we've got to 
deal with.
[music playing] 
[William K. Reilly] 
I can recall somebody is 
supposed to have asked 
Stevie Wonder whether he'd been 
blind all his life, and he said, 
"Well, not yet." 
[laughter]
I mean, to the extent I have 
any perspective at all, 
and in the job, I think one 
has very little, honestly.
The Clean Air Act obviously has 
to stand very high on the list 
of things that I think we will 
be proud of and will stand the 
test of time.
[President George H. W. Bush] 
America's heritage 
is precious. 
We will not turn our backs or 
look the other way, and that  
means polluters
must pay.
And so there is a new breeze 
blowing, a new current of 
concern for the 
environment.
And today marks a great victory 
for the environment, the day 
when we have strengthened 
our clean air statutes, 
already the world's 
toughest. 
[William K. Reilly] 
It was a time when we dealt 
with very high expectations. 
When we crafted a law, a lot 
of the ideas had been in the 
agency, were conceptually 
developed in the agency. 
They were successfully 
integrated with the views 
of other agencies and 
coordinated very closely  
with the White House.
And that bill
was our bill.

[Carol M. Browner] 
Now there are people across 
the country who are saying 
things like, "We don't need 
to protect the environment.  
It costs too much; we don't 
want to do this and, certainly, 
government shouldn't 
be doing it." 
But what I say to those people 
is, "Who better than your 
government to protect your air, 
your water and your land?
It is something that every 
American should expect of 
its government, that we would 
do these things for you, 
setting tough standards, 
setting standards that 
protect the people most at 
risk and then allowing for 
flexibility in how those 
standards are met, which 
will allow us to build on the 
innovation and the creativity  
that exists in
this country."

[Christine Todd Whitman] 
What we do, the methods we 
discover, the solutions we 
come up with will be 
prototypes for others. 
We do our job for those future 
generations that are not 
yet born. 
How well we do our job 
is really the test. 
We will look for ways to work 
cooperatively with the states
as partners. 
We will look for ways to work 
with agriculture and business 
to find out how we can reach 
our shared goals of a clean 
environment in ways that will 
allow them to continue to 
supply us with what we need 
to enjoy our quality of life.
As I said repeatedly during 
the hearings, and I've said 
as governor, and I think 
we've proven in the state 
of New Jersey, it is not 
either a clean environment 
or a healthy economy.    
It can and 
must be both.
[music playing]
[Michael O. Leavitt] 
The job is 
never done. 
We have to get even 
better at it.   
And that's been made even more 
evident by the fact that we 
now live in a global economy 
where our country is competing 
with nations that aren't nearly 
as environmentally conscious as 
we have become. 
To survive that kind of 
a situation where we're 
competing against others who 
aren't, we have to be better 
at it.
We celebrate the past, 
but we accelerate the future. 
Learning to do what we've done 
the last 30 years even better, 
to do it faster, to do it 
better, to find what I like 
to refer to these days 
as "the better way." 
[music playing]
[President George W. Bush] 
We'll encourage good stewardship 
of natural resources. 
We'll continue to protect 
the health of our citizens, 
help guarantee the quality of 
our air, water and land for 
generations to come.  
We will focus 
on results. 
[music playing]
[Stephen L. Johnson] 
I thought about how I felt when 
the President asked me to lead 
the EPA. 
The only word that I could 
think of was "wow." 
[laughter]
Mr. President, under your 
leadership, our country 
has made great strides 
in cleaning our air, 
water and land in a way that 
allows our nation to continue 
to grow and prosper.
The success of EPA and 
the health of our nation's 
environment cannot be separated 
from the productivity and 
creativity of 
my colleagues.
By expanding the roles of 
technology, collaborative 
partnerships, and flexible 
policies, we will be able 
to engage broad interests 
and deliver results quicker 
and more effectively than ever 
before to provide the next  
generation a cleaner, safer 
environment in which to live, 
work and play. 
[music playing]